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The momentum is against them. Biking is moving from recreational and exercise to transportation. Gas prices are not going down, the TTC is not going to get better. Biking is a viable alternative – just look at the numbers beside you at the stoplights on Danforth and Pape at 5:20. Some separated bike paths are a good thing – they show how it will work when there are more, and separated bike lanes on Bloor will act as a force to extend them to Islington and to Victoria Park in the next stage. Will make it hard to keep them of other streets, too. This morning on CBC radio Denzel said “John Street for North/South separated lanes.”

Great. I use the Pharmacy and Birchmount lanes. I never thought I’d live in a city where bike infrastructure would get worse.

John

After this lame bike network report, can we stop calling Denzil Minnan-Wong the “city’s new bike champion” now? Clearly, progress will not be made by pitting one councillor against another, or pitting cyclists against communities. Cycling advocates need to reach out directly to local communities, independently of politicians, and NEVER take sides in City Hall pissing contests.

duncan

Everyone who reads this, I encourage you to start writing letters (emails) now. Write to your councillor and the councillors where changes are suggested. Write to city staff and the PWIC. Write to tell them what you like about the plan and write to tell them what you don’t. This mayor promises to be a customer service mayor and now is the time to put his promises to the test. I’ve been writing letters all morning and will continue to do so, please join me.

I bike on Sherbourne lots, chiefly because it has left-turn lanes at Gerrard, Dundas and the Esplanade, and there’s no way any loss of those left-turn lanes can be counted as an improvement for anyone. Plus, a physically separate bike lane on that street will simply get clogged with bashed shopping carts and staggering (or prostrate) pedestrians. Daft idea – as were the bike lanes on Jarvis, which don’t go past any left-turn opportunities and which end, at their southern limit, at a short forced merge-right. Honestly, Church is a better bike route than the lane-enhanced Jarvis.

What cyclists ought to be doing for all those streets is teaming up with a motorist group to demand that they be re-paved, curb-to-curb, since Sherbourne especially is one of the most pot-holed streets downtown.

I *drive*, not cycle, Pharmacy and Birchmount, chiefly weekends and evenings, and I have to say that the changes made to those streets are a HUGE boon for speed and safety. With a separate lane for left turns and another for cyclists (which are very rare when I’m there, but I presume they are key commute routes) and illegal parkers (which are common) motor traffic flow is very much improved; you really only need one lane when nobody is stopping in front of you. It used to be a constant game of lane changes and quick stops; advocates for the old design must be blissfully ignorant of how close they used to come to getting rear-ended in front of their own homes.

-S

Rico

Has the Don Valley been updated on this map? Does the West side (Rosedale Valley Road & South Belt Line by Brickworks) connect to the East side (Don Valley trail)? I proposed a connection of all three of these and nothing was done.

The proposed Toronto BikePlan scraps the much needed Bloor-Danforth Bikeway Environmental Assessment to make funds available for other parts of the plan, which includes removing the Birchmount and Pharmacy bike lanes.

If I have this right, we must give up on a much needed bikeway so we can afford to remove bike lanes.